Extremis
by cloudluvsme13
Summary: After New York, there seemed like there was no time to recover before the Mandarin posed an entirely new threat. Would Tony be able to protect all the people he cares about? Would Tony be able to protect himself? TonyxOC, Calico Potts.
1. Prologue

Nothing has been the same since New York. It hasn't been the same for anyone, but I think it's been slowly getting better for them all. But for me, I'm experiencing things. I think it's getting worse.

You experience things when you're just so close to death. And being told about different worlds, Gods, wormholes... All at once, it's too much. And in all of that, what am I? I'm just a smart, above average-looking guy in a tin can. I'm no big shot.

I-I can't sleep, and when I do I have nightmares.

More often than not, I go down and tinker in the lab. I'm up to Mark Forty-One today. I spent around thirty hours on it, if you were wondering; it's really coming around nicely. And these improvements - though a little bloody - are going to be amazing. I just wish I wasn't so damn tired.

I can't remember the last time I actually slept. I know it makes Calico upset, too. At night, I know she stays awake to see if I'll go to sleep. I see the bags under her eyes in the morning. I just feel so terrible for her. Her mother harassing her, it's the holidays, and her man's a complete mess. I see her crying so often. It's heartbreaking.

Calico...

What would I do if she got hurt? Can I still protect my little doll? I know that by now, I'm so used to having her around that it's easy to ignore her, but... What if something actually happens to her? What if she catches the eye of the wrong person again? What if, because _I'm_ a wreck right now, somebody else actually comes along and steals her from me? What if it's _Natasha _who sweeps her off her feet? That would be hot and all, but I wouldn't want her to leave me.

Okay, maybe not that last part, but still. What would I do without you, Calico Potts?

Sweet Baby Jesus, I need help.


	2. Aldrich Killian

Calico pursed her lips and shook her head.

Around Christmas, she was always bad at buying gifts. Usually she would purchase a simple snow globe and not be bothered by the disgusted look she got. But Tony was special, and she had a feeling that a snow globe wasn't going to cut it.

But what is a person to buy for a billionaire who has everything? Perhaps an exotic animal like a giraffe, or a rare alcohol?

So Calico left the store with a frown and began to walk back to her car.

"Well, the last time I saw a woman with hair like yours must have been back in '99." Somebody chirped.

Calico turned her head quickly and made eye contact with a handsome, smartly dressed blond. He looked like the sort of man that most people trusted, but for some reason Calico found herself turning away and quickening her pace. This man reeked of insanity (and not the good kind).

She heard his dress shoes moving faster against the concrete as well, continuing to follow her. She fumbled with her key for a moment before his hand made contact with her shoulder.

"Sir, do I know you?" She snapped, narrowing her silver eyes in his direction and hoping he couldn't sense how terrified she was.

"No, but you will soon. Not to mention I know who you are, and I know Virginia. Or Pepper. Whichever she prefers nowadays." He said casually.

Calico furrowed her brows and poked out her lips in confusion.

"Eh? What do you want?" She asked.

The shady man smirked and looked Calico up and down.

"Well, I actually have a meeting with Pepper in a moment. I stopped here to get something and saw you. I guess what I mean is that after being so pleasantly distracted, I sort of want you." He said. Calico wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"Well, I don't really want you, sir." She said with an air of finality. She opened the door and slid inside, rolling down her window.

The man leaned down so that he could say his final words to her.

"Aldrich Killian. Not sir. And... I hope I'll be seeing you, then."

"Have a nice day, Mister Killian." She mumbled, driving off not a second later.

Calico soon forgot all about Aldrich Killian, and went back to worrying about what she was going to get Tony for Christmas.

* * *

When Calico arrived home, she was met with an ashen-faced Tony.

He was pacing across the floor and running his hands through his messy brown hair. He didn't look good, though whether this was from lack of sleep or something else she didn't know.

"Tony?" She called hesitantly.

His gaze quickly rose from the ground to meet her's, and he inhaled deeply when she smiled.

"Hey!" She greeted, going to give him a hug.

He took a step back and looked at her with his mouth agape, as if he'd seen a ghost. Calico frowned.

"Calico, you're okay?" He asked thickly. She nodded.

"What's wrong?"

"You're supposed to be dead. The place you just were; it just got blown up by terrorists, a-and!-"

"Tony, calm down! It's okay, I lied! I didn't go there, I went to buy you a present." Calico exclaimed, reaching up to cup his face in her hands. But her stomach still became mysteriously upset. What if she hadn't lied?

Tony pulled her into a bone crushing hug and began to mumble incoherently. She heard a few things, like "I'll find the Mandarin and kill him!" and "I'll sleep tonight, please just don't scare me like that!"

"Tony, I can't breathe!" She cried into his chest. He pulled away and littered her face with kisses.

Calico briefly wondered if shady Killian had anything to do with Tony's worries.

* * *

A/N: I'm REALLY sorry!

I've been sooooo busy! I'm moving to a far away place, and its taking a lot of effort. Plus, i was sort of like "christmas story?... in may?" XD

Dont hate me, Ill update this again sometime next week!


	3. Attention

Calico's search for her boyfriend that morning didn't take any time at all; Tony Stark wasn't asleep. He was down in his lab just like he'd always been lately.

Tony was so focused on whatever he was looking at That Calico thought she could rip off her pajamas and he wouldn't even notice her leaning on the door (she briefly considered testing this theory).

"Jarvis, how are the driving conditions today?" she asked, making her presence known in the room.

"Perfect. Not a cloud in the sky." the computer responded.

Tony tore his eyes away from his work and looked up at her with a slightly surprised look.

"Hey, Calico."

"Good morning. Tony, could we maybe go out to eat? Nothing fancy. I'm beginning to look a little too thin, I think we should cancel that out with some _Carl's Junior_ or something." she said, taking a few steps closer to him.

"I'd rather have a pizza delivered, I don't feel much like going out when I don't have to." He mumbled, going back to tinkering with what Calico realized was a glove from his suit.

She pouted and tried to think of a way to get Tony to pay attention to her. She didn't need a lot of attention, but she needed at least enough to know she was important.

"I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Alright."

"And you're gonna go take one, too." She tried elaborate.

"Sure, just come get me when you're done." He responded, oblivious.

"No. We're gonna go take one right now. The two of us. Together." Calico finally cried.

"Oh. _Oh."_

* * *

"And I actually have no idea what I was thinking when I got that creepy Christmas decoration, for some reason I thought you would like it." Tony stated with a slight smile.

"What kind of animal is that supposed to _be_? It's downright terrifying."

"Dunno. Sleep deprivation does that to you. Er, and sorry for making my suit attack you last night, but it was funny how you went right back to sleep after yelling at me."

"Mhm. So who's this _Mandarin_ guy? I never catch him on TV." Calico interjected casually, taking a sip out of her soda can.

Tony licked his slightly chapped lips and jiggled his leg. Calico noticed that he was no longer paying attention to her, but staring at the television in the corner of the room, and sighed.

"Tony?" She called, setting her drink on the glass coffee table.

He jumped slightly and looked down at the small ginger with wide brown eyes. Then he sighed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Kitten... I'm just a little tired. What were you saying?" He said, gently placing a kiss on the top of her head. Calico sighed again, rested her head on Tony's shoulder, and pouted up at him.

"What's the deal with this Mandarin guy?" She repeated, large grey eyes scanning her lover's face for any new signs of distress.

"He's a terrorist. Somebody needs to kill this bastard, but nobody can track him. And it kind of feels like he's harassing me." Tony answered, tensing slightly as he thought more about it.

Calico wrapped her small fingers around his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. He relaxed.

"Don't worry too much, okay? It's not good for you-"

"Hey; either of you ever hear of a man named Aldrich Killian? About six feet, slicked back blond hair, blue eyes?" A new voice loudly asked, scaring both Tony and Calico.

"Happy, don't do that. Please." Tony said with a sigh, clutching his chest. Calico jumped up and shook her finger at Happy, her face scrunched up as she tried to remember where she'd heard the name before.

"Say the name again? It sounds familiar." She said, lightly hitting the side of her head.

Happy snorted.

"Aldrich Killian. It should ring a bell. He had a meeting with Pepper and he kept asking about you. Said you had a conversation." He continued.

Calico nodded.

"Yeah, I remember now! He was this good looking dude that kept bugging me while I was Christmas shopping! Oh, that creepy... Er, he tried to follow me to my car."

"_Somebody was following you while you were Christmas shopping?!"_

"Calm down, Tony! Err, but he did say he had a meeting with Pepper. Now I'm even more creeped out." Calico shivered.

"You should be. Something about him leaves a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach." Happy said, scratching his chin.

Tony stood up and tousled Calico's ginger hair lightly.

"Don't talk to strangers, Calico. That name sounds kind of familiar to me too, now that I'm thinking about it. And Happy, is it asking a lot of you make sure Calico doesn't leave the house the next few days?" Tony asked.

Calico looked at him with wide, indignant eyes.

"You can't do that! I'm an adult, and this is America you jerk!" She cried (however her voice cracked in the middle, which took away most of the meaning in her words).

Happy shook his head.

"I agree with Tony. You should lay low for a while. In case Killian really is a dangerous guy. It's for your own good." he added the last bit quickly to avoid Calico's wrath.

Tony rubbed the back of his neck and ignored Calico's harsh glare.

"Well, I just came here to tell you about Killian. I guess I'll head back to Pepper..." Happy said, slowly walking away from an even more stressed out Tony and a fuming Calico.

As he made it to the front door, he heard Calico begin to sob in frustration.

"I need a gun, I'm shooting Aldrich Killian and the Mandarin in the face when I see them!"

"Babe, calm down."

"Why do my pleas for attention always go wrong?!"

* * *

_**I am SO sorry! I love you guys, but um, I was having a bit of insanity. I have to go see a therapist twice a week now. I'll try to upload more regularly. XD It's not me being lazy, I just had some personal things going on!**_


	4. Happy Hogan

Happy didn't know what was going on.

One minute, he was looking at Aldrich Killian's company files. The next, a shady man went to sit on a fountain, and Happy realized that it wasn't natural for eyes to glow bright blue. Especially not _that _shade of blue. And then he was thrown against a wall, and he felt like he was on fire. He was positive he'd broken several ribs. His breathing became labored.

Probably because most of the square was now aflame; the possibility of Happy being on fire was now made apparent. The screams of hundreds of injured civilians filled his ears. It was painful to know he was in no condition to help anybody. He could barely help himself.

It looked like the man had blown up, and he'd taken out a majority of the square with him.

Happy noticed that there seemed to be the imprints of bodies on the ground, as if they'd been drawn there, and he felt sick.

Or maybe he was sick after having just survived an explosion like that. The bodies might not have been what disoriented him.

He fell to the ground and realized with a start that the man who'd exploded was perfectly fine, and even seemed to be walking through the fire. In fact, he _was _walking through the fire. And he was perfectly okay.

"Dang it..." he groaned, clenching his jaw in pain.

Chalking the perfectly- fine exploded man up to having almost just died, he sighed and finally allowed his eyes to slide shut. His was going to b a story to tell when he woke up.

* * *

Tony's eyes were glazed over with tears that he refused to let fall.

Calico and Pepper, however, had no problems with crying. Happy was their friend. It was painful to see him in such a terrible, weak state.

"He went to far this time." Calico said, biting down on her lip and trying to stop herself from shaking. She buried her face into Tony's shoulder and began to quietly sob.

"Oh... why?" Was all Pepper could muster.

"I h-hate that stupid Mandarin! If only Happy hadn't left the house to get t-that stupid f-file!" Calico cried. Tony inhaled deeply and closed his large, dark eyes.

"The Mandarin has to die."

He felt oddly calm after he said it out loud. Sure, he wanted to cry, but other than that, he was calm. He wasn't anxious in that moment. Maybe to feel at peace, that was what had to be done. How it was going to be done, however, was a mystery.

"Tony, even you can't find him. How will he be killed?" Pepper criticized, gently wiping her tears away. He opened his mouth to respond, but a woman clearing her throat caught his attention. His head snapped to look at the door. The calm was gone.

"Visiting hours are over." The nurse interrupted.

Pepper and Calico walked out without saying anything, but Tony had to stop the nurse from changing the channel on the television.

"He loves this show. Its old fashion, and he likes the accents." He told her.

The nurse got a sad sort of look in her eyes, but she didn't change the station.

* * *

"Happy didn't deserve that." Calico said under her breath, her bottom lip trembling.

Tony ran his fingers through his dark hair and nodded.

"I know. The Mandarin... this guy. He's getting bold. I'm scared and mad at the same time." He said, rubbing his temples with one hand and opening the car door with the other.

"C'mon, I'll see you inside." She said, curling her arms around herself as if she were cold.

Tony make a move. He sat in the car and simply stared at her with large, inky eyes, as if expected to hear more.

Calico slowly stepped out, wiped at her moist eyes with her fists, and trudged away from the car without even looking back.

Tony clenched his jaw as another realizing dawned on him. If the Mandarin could do something like that to Happy, what would he do to Calico if he were to get a hold of her? Calico wasn't nearly as tough as Happy, and if her social anxiety were to act up at a bad moment and she froze...

"Maybe I could ask Fury to help. No, the Mandarin wants me, he doesn't want S.H.I.E.L.D..." he told himself, leaning on the car.

"Are you talking to yourself, Tony?"

"Yes, Rhodey. Things are bad. A-and it doesn't make me crazy. Its just a sign of stress."

James frowned.

"I came to offer some help. Mandarin's a threat to national security. We can work together on this." He said.

Tony lowered his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck.

"We'll probably have to discuss this over lunch or something tomorrow. I can't think straight right now." He responded, slowly making his way into the house.

"Okay. Wait, Tony. Is Calico alright? Pepper said she hasn't been well lately." James inquired. Tony looked over his shoulder and gave a strained smile.

"She's just lost a little weight, but I think she joined a gym recently. That's about it." He lied. James could probably tell he was lying, but at that point Tony didn't really care.

* * *

_**Erm, I feel really bad about having abandoned you guys. XD**_

_**I wanna finish the Thor story, but I have an Alice: Madness returns one shot i wanna publish. Also one for Natasha and Steve (you might not like the Natasha one. Its implied girlxgirl/yuri).**_


End file.
